Driver jailed for causing severe injuries to biker

A man who caused life-changing injuries to a motorcyclist and was found with alcohol levels nearly three times the legal limit has been given a jail term of more than two years.

Arunas Kirilka, 46 of Kennington Road, Oxford, was sentenced to two years in prison for causing serious injury by dangerous driving, a four month concurrent sentence for driving while over the alcohol limit and ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge.

He was also disqualified from driving for five years and will have to take an extended driving retest.

On July 12 at around 5.50pm, Kirilka was driving his black Volvo S60 on Oxford Road, Banbury, when he undertook another vehicle that was stationary at traffic lights near Horton Hospital.

As he pulled away, he lost control of his vehicle and careered into a central island before crashing into the back of a motorbike.

The impact caused the motorcyclist to be thrown off and into the back of a stationary vehicle.

The motorcyclist, a man in his forties, required surgery after sustaining a shattered pelvis and right shoulder and a punctured left lung.

Following the collision, Kirilka was breathalysed at the scene, where he recorded 84 microgrammes per 100ml of breath. He was arrested and taken to custody, where his reading went up to 93 microgrammes – the legal limit is 35mg.

Following the sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, PC Neil Bowker, said: “I hope [the] sentencing will help [the victim] start to build a sense of closure on that fateful day.”